Tora-chan: Hi again. For those of you that actually read these yes my car was stolen, but I have gotten it back. And no that is not why I had put this story on hold. Only a few know the real reason and I'm not able to tell everyone exactly why yet. I will be writing several chapters before I post again so that hopefully I will not have a large break between chapters again. We are nearing the end of the story seeing as they are heading to the final stone. Now let me start the chapter before Yuki shows up and drives me up the wall (looks in the corner with a smirk and the bound and gagged wolf demon).
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Last time: Started to the spirit stone, but had to go and put out a fire instead.
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Mari burrowed deeper into Vitanie's arms as they trudged through the forest away from the charred remains of where the forest was. Everyone was tired and dirty and knew that they would never make it to the spirit stone today. Vitanie was irritated at being slowed down from reaching their goal. She was ready for this adventure to end.
Kagome walked beside her fiddling with the jewel that was hanging around her neck. It was the mostly completed jewel and only the few pieces in the jar in her pocket needed to be added to complete it. Vitanie lifted one of the stones from her chest and stared at it. She was fairly lucky that she only had five stones to find while Kagome had had hundreds to collect.
"Will you be happy that your adventure is over once you complete the jewel?" she asked still staring at the fire stone resting in her hands.
With a start Kagome looked up at her. "I'm not sure. I've spent so long looking for the jewel and I'm not sure if I'll be able to stay here with my friends once a finish the jewel."
"That's why you hesitate isn't it?" Vitanie asked.
"Yes, I don't think I'm ready to say goodbye yet," Kagome sighed.
"We should probably stop for the night," Sango mentioned and she and Kirara carefully came down through the trees. "I saw some steam ahead and what looks like a hot spring. There's a nice area near there for a camp spot."
"Yes, that was actually where I was headed, which is why I've turned down every camp spot Yuki, Miroku, or Inuyasha have mentioned," Vee smiled before letting out a yawn. "Even if I'm about ready to drop, putting that fire out really drained me."
"That's why you should. . ."
"Shut up Yuki, I know," she interrupted. "Look there's the hot springs so, you can set up camp while we go and enjoy the water."
"Oh that sounds great, but we need to be careful or else Miroku will try to spy on us," Sango said glaring at the mentioned monk.
"Don't worry about it, Sango. He won't be a problem. Sora, Leiko are you going to join us," Vee asked turning to the other two."
"I could us a bath, it's been awhile."
"Yes, I think I will."
"Great then let's go," Vitanie answered moving forward and ignoring the guys. As soon as the women walked between two rocks on the path to the hot springs a barrier went up blocking them from view.
Sango looked back and saw the barrier wall and smirked, "I think this will be the only time we won't have to worry about Miroku spying on us."
"Yeah, that's sure a relief," Kagome added with a smile.
"The barrier blocks sight but not sound, so they could still hear us. It will also stop them from entering as long as we're in here," Vitanie mentioned as she finished slipping off her clothes and sunk into the water.
They all let out sighs of pleasure as they soaked in the steaming water letting there muscles relax. They could hear Miroku complaining about not being able to see them as Inuyasha and Hiroshi ignored him. Hideaki was agreeing with the monk while Yuki was growling at the two.
"You know I feel more rested and refreshed by sitting in here," Kagome commented as she stretched her arms over her head.
"Not to mention cleaner," Sango added.
"Yeah, but we should probably get out soon and give the guys a chance to clean up as well. They were about as dirty and soot smudged as we were," Vitanie sighed as she combed her fingers through her wet hair picking twigs and leaves out.
"Yeah, I guess it isn't right for us to enjoy this alone," Kagome sighed as she slowly stood and got out. She grabbed a towel and wrapped it around herself as she held another one out to Sango. Leiko followed close behind as Vitanie dipped under the water quickly before getting up and joining the rest of them on the shore.
"Vitanie your hairs going to be a mess to comb out once it dries," Kagome commented looking at the long hair.
"No, it's never given me much trouble. Now let's see if the boys have started a fire," she said as she finished pulling her clothes on and lead them out of the springs and into the camp site.
What they ran into at camp wasn't what they expected. Inuyasha and Yuki were fighting again and Hiroshi and Miroku were trying to calm them down. The two foxed, Shippo and Hideaki were standing back watching as the four yelled amongst themselves. Standing just off to the side of them was a fire ring filled and ready to be started. With a little concentration Vitanie started the fire making it burst into flames catching the four off guard.
"You know I wasn't expecting a verbal war to be going when we came out," she sighed staring at the four. "Why don't you all go soak and clean up and we will finish setting up camp since the rest of you can't seem to do even that. When you get back, get some sleep because we lost a lot of time today because of the fire. We're only about an hour walk from the temple and we should be half way up a mountain right now. Now move, I'm hungry and now of you thought to cook anything," Vitanie said pushing the four away from the fire.
"You really should try to get along. We're all on the same side here," Kagome said as she walked past Inuyasha and Yuki to help Vitanie with the food.
"Next time you should see if wolf's lullaby works on all canines and not just wolves," Leiko commented to Hiroshi as she grabbed the water bottles with Mari and headed to the nearby stream to fill them up.
"Seriously, and you left Kohaku to guard camp alone. We don't know where Vitanie's friend Sen is so we don't know if we're safe in this forest anymore," Sango chided as she went to join her brother.
They guys stood there in shock as they watched the girls move around the camp getting everything they should have been getting done finished in moments instead of fighting amongst themselves.
"How come I have a feeling that they're going to be upset with us if we don't make ourselves scarce?" Hiroshi asked.
"Because they're women and the last thing you want to do in anger them," Miroku commented.
"Then I recommend you take Shippo's and Hideaki's example and go to the hot springs," Sora said from behind them. They turned and met her glare before racing toward the barrier.
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Midday found them halfway up the mountain but completely blocked from continuing. Since early morning they had heard animals in the area crying out and now they came upon a landslide that blocked the trail up the mountain.
"So how do we get past it?" Sango asked looking over the large boulders.
"I'll use my wind scar and knock them away," Inuyasha shrugged as he reached for his sword.
"Don't be too hasty Inuyasha," Vitanie said grabbing his hand and stopping him from drawing his sword out. "Just a little bit of power from the earth stone and I can have the path clear."
"Are you sure you won't be draining yourself again?" Leiko asked from where she was leaning on her staff.
"I'm not planning on moving all of them just the ones on the trail," Vitanie answered as she concentrated on the one stone and slowly started rolling the boulders out of the way. She was halfway through the job when she gasped and ran toward the trail throwing boulders out of the way with the stone's power. As she reached the pile she grabbed some of the smaller stones and threw them aside with her hands as the stone's power subsided. Buried beneath the rubble was Sen.
"What's he doing here?" Yuki asked.
"I think the better question is what was he doing buried?" Kagome whispered, as Leiko helped Vitanie move him to flat ground away from the landslide.
Sora came over quickly and checked his wounds healing some as she noticed he was still breathing. She was closing a nasty looking gash in his leg when his hand shot out and grabbed hers stopping her from continuing the healing.
"Sen, are you okay? Let Sora heal you," Vitanie asked concerned as she looked into his green eyes which were clouded with pain.
"No, there is no need. You must get to the stone before my barrier falls. If he gets there and senses Akiasa's barrier he will turn on your family," he managed between gasps of pain.
"Sen, Sora can heal you and you can come with us, please," she begged knowing that if he didn't allow the healing that he would die.
"Vitanie Tora go, you do not have much time," he shouted pushing her away.
"Vee, we must hurry. If we get the stone quickly we can still come back and save him," Hiroshi comforted gently pulling her away.
"My dear friend, keep the stone from his grasp," Sen whispered as he slipped into unconsciousness.
"I can't leave him here alone," she whispered.
"Then I will stay with him," a voice said from the brush. Seconds later a badger stepped out into the open.
"You are Makoto aren't you?" she asked pleading for confirmation.
"I am, and I'll watch over him, you just promise to keep those blasted stones from that maniac's hand," he said gruffly while he settled himself next to the wood fairy.
"I promise," she said before Yuki and Leiko pulled her away and up the mountain. After several yards past she pushed her sorrow aside and a look of determination came over her. "We have to hurry, too many have already died for these stones," she said leading the group faster up the mountain and toward the shrine that they could now see through the thinning trees.
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Tora-chan: I know evil so close to the shrine and the chapter ends. Not to mention I left Sen dieing on the road side.
Hideaki: You are evil. I'll be surprised if your readers don't try to kill you. I know that a certain wolf is going to kill you when he gets loose.
Tora-chan: Do you think I'm scared of wolves? Besides I'll just threaten to send him back to Tren again, you know how freaked he gets about her and her immortal muses. Yo, Hiroshi, could you finish it up please?
Hiroshi: We thank you for reading so please leave a review and have a nice morning, day, and night.